Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

Conscientious objection is the simple idea that no one should be forced to take part in a practice they believe is wrong.

This is particularly important in the most controversial areas of our society; abortion, euthanasia, and sexuality and gender. Australians don’t agree on these issues, which is why your conscience is so important. It means that you, your medical professionals, and the religious organisations that we founded and rely on, cannot be forced to act against our deepest convictions.

The sad reality is that conscientious objection is under constant threat – attacking both individual medical practitioners and faith-based institutions.

In just the past few weeks, issues have risen in Victoria, NSW and Northern Territory, which raise great concerns about the direction our governments are taking.

Victoria

Two Victorian political parties and their MPs have released a report on access to abortion, which recommends significantly undermining conscientious objection.

One of their recommendations was to remove the ability for faith-based institutions (including hospitals) to choose not to perform abortions in their facilities.

However, another recommendation is even more insidious: the report calls for an “oversight mechanism to collect data on the number of conscientious objectors and to ensure compliance with referral obligations”.

The recommendation would force all conscientious objectors to register with the government, to be counted and monitored – effectively creating a public list of religious medical practitioners.

This would be extraordinary government overreach, violating the most fundamental principles of conscience and privacy. We are gravely concerned that the Victorian government might consider this recommendation.

This report comes just after the Voluntary Assisted Dying Amendment Bill 2025 which requires conscientiously objecting medical practitioners to provide information to patients regarding VAD and compels them to refer patients to another practitioner. This amendment increases our concern about the trend against conscientious objection in Victoria.

Read the full report

NSW

Despite a strong campaign from faith leaders supported by Freedom for Faith, Susan Carter MLC’s amendment to the NSW Voluntary Assisted Dying Act was narrowly defeated. The amendment would have strengthened conscientious objection for faith-based aged care.

It was encouraging to see members from both sides of politics supporting the amendment. However, we were disappointed by some of the members who opposed the amendment whom we thought would have been supportive.

Read more about the amendment and the final vote

More recently, a threat to individual conscientious objection to abortion has been exposed.

The Chief Executive of a Local Health District has told a parliamentary committee that providing ‘termination services’ may be a condition of employment in the NSW health system.

Ms Jill Ludford, answering questions from NSW Shadow Assistant Attorney-General Susan Carter MLC, said government health services had to balance conscientious objections by health practitioners with the rights of women and the rights of women to access services.

Under direct questioning, Ms Ludford was evasive as to whether a new employee would be interrogated about their willingness to perform an abortion, or whether it would be a condition of employment.

Watch the full testimony

Northern Territory

As I wrote last week, the Northern Territory Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee has released its recommendations on implementing voluntary assisted dying in the Territory.

Despite a number of important protections for religious freedom, there are some significant concerns in the recommendations, and the recent developments around the NT Anti-Discrimination Act give us reason to be concerned that religious freedom will be fully protected in any VAD legislation.

Following the release of the Committee’s report, Freedom for Faith has just sent a follow-up submission, addressing issues with the report and highlighting the importance of protecting religious freedom.

Read the full report and our response

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. This fight can only continue with your partnership.

___

Republished with thanks to Freedom for Faith. Image via Adobe.